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The Jews who came to China were nurtured in some cases by the breadth and profundity of Chinese culture; likewise, their own cultural traditions had an influence on Chinese society. The important point is that although many Jews inhabited China from ancient to modern times, no indigenous antisemitic activity has ever taken place on Chinese soil. Why has China never witnessed any spontaneous and native antisemitic activity? I think the main reasons are as follows:
- Antisemitism originated from deep rooted religious prejudice, which is more conspicuous in Christian Europe. However, as a whole, the Chinese are influenced by Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and this kind of strong antisemitic fanaticism with deep religious bias therefore does not exist in China, and never has.
- From a cultural point of view, the Chinese and Jewish cultures have a lot in common. For example, both heavily emphasize the role of family ties and the value of education, and although both have absorbed various exotic cultures their central core has never changed since birth. On a stone monument erected in 1489, the Kaifeng Jews wrote: “Our religion and Confucianism differ only in minor details. In mind and deed both respect Heaven’s Way, venerate ancestors, are loyal to sovereigns and ministers, and filial to parents. Both call for harmony with wives and children, respect for rank, and for making friends.” All these contributed to the prevention of the impact of antisemitism on Chinese people.
- Since the middle of last century, the Chinese people have suffered as much devastation as the Jews did. Nearly 35 million Chinese were killed and wounded by Japanese fascists during the war. In addition, anti-Chinese atrocities that have occurred in various parts of the world in the past several centuries—and even in Indonesia in 1998—remind us of similar anti-Jewish outrages that occurred in Europe in previous centuries, especially between 1933 and 1945. This shared experience engendered in the Chinese people a deep sympathy for Jewish people and made them oppose firmly any kind of antisemitism.
(Source.)
